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Germany Killed The Radio Star (and why that’s A-OK)

This weekend was a whirlwind of musicals, radio shows, Greek history lessons, babies, Daleks, candlelit hot yoga (check!) and, of course, football. Friday night we went to see RENT, one of my favourite musicals, which was as always, brilliant, after which we came home to finalise the tracklisting and do a bit of research for the RADIO SHOW we’d be hosting Saturday afternoon. There was a battle raging inside me between ridiculous levels of excitement and downright terror, but after some late night text reassurance and the comfort in taking Sweet on the air with me, I gave in to the former. Saturday afternoon, we arrived with CDs and notes in hand, ready to go – until we got about 20 minutes into the show and realised we were going to run out of music before the hour was up! We ended up going off on random tangents about inventions, traumatising videos and Britney Spears’ Photoshopped legs to fill up the time, and in between trivia, bad jokes and some of the best music around, we finished up with about 10 seconds to spare. I was thrilled by the end of it, and I’m totally excited to do it all over again next week!

The rest of the evening was spent with curry, Scrabble and the Dr. Who finale – a debrief for another time (sidenote: I want that ‘something blue’ at my wedding) – and then Sunday morning rolled around. The England v. Germany game. Let’s just say that nervous feeling I had in the pit of my stomach was well-warranted. I could finish the rest of this post ranting about ignored handballs and twatty referees who couldn’t see a goal if the ball sprouted arms and legs and started dancing around the net singing Three Lions, but you know what? Germany deserved that win, not just for their amazing swiftness and ninja-like reflexes, but for everything you can take away after the game.

Looking at the German team, it’s pretty easy to make parallels between gameplay and real life, and lessons to learn in order to flourish. Let’s take a look at the team before the game. They’d just had an embarrassing loss to Serbia, were facing a team who’d just surprised the world and beat the pool frontrunners, and their country’s faith in the team was waivering – just looking at the white out of the crowd, with cries of God Save the Queen almost drowing out the swarm of vuvuzelas, the support in the stadium was heavily English. The game even began with the German anthem being booed. But Germany triumphed – England were indecisive, too deliberative in the brief windows of opportunity with which Germany had no hesitation in grabbing by the horns. Take a look at that for a second. They were outnumbered 3-1 in terms of fan support, clearly not the stadium favourites, heckled and cursed for a good 90 minutes – but they went ahead and blew it out of the park anyway. Am I the only one that finds that inspiring?

I guess it hit home a little bit because it’s been somewhat a theme of the last little while – trying to do big things when the odds are stacked against you. When you’re popular, or seen as successful, or have a great job or social group or whatever to fall back on, you can afford to take your time; weigh out the pros and the cons, take the easy route of sticking to what’s comfortable because you know you’ll always be safe. Well in England’s case yesterday, it didn’t work. Germany latched onto those tiny windows of opportunity, defying a crowd of 40,000 supporting the rivals, and won spectacularly. I think there’s a lesson there – if you want to succeed at something, even if you’re not popular, even when people are actively trying to take you down – instead of succumbing to defeat or retaliation, prove them all wrong and just be brilliant. I know in my life, there are people who still see me as the anxiety-ridden, awkward social misfit I was a couple of years ago. But I think we all have a choice – let other people define you as something negative, or take a leaf from Germany’s book, choose to actively try and defy expectations, and prove that you can be something. As bitter as I probably should be about the loss, I’m proud of Germany for taking action and advantage of every opportunity. I think it’s something we can all apply to our daily lives.

You’ve got to hand it to England though – their sole moment of glory came in the form of a single goal – caused by the player being punched in the face with a football. Which, if nothing else, made for pure comedy gold. 🙂

72 comments

Yes, Germany played fantastic footie and deservedly won. They really brought their A game. BUT. There is a huge difference in attitude when you go into half time at 2-2 versus 2-1. I do think that makes a difference. Sure, Germany would’ve probs won anyway… but England would’ve maybe put up a bigger fight had that goal not been disallowed.

Ah well! Well played Germany!

Second, I love that I’m not the only one to ascribe lessons to sporting events. I love the analysis of the German match- I feel much the same way when my favourite, much-maligned players take to the tennis court and people are afraid to breathe for fear of shattering the absolute beauty and discipline of what they see.

And that’s one of my favourite things about sport- and yes, in the German team- the discipline. It’s stunning to watch.

Third, congratulations on hosting your own radio show! I bet it was fantastic and I want to listen in! Any way we can listen online? Reckon you could also be on twitter? Interactive trivia! 😀

Sounds like you had a great time hosting the radio show- congratulations!

For what it’s worth, while you didn’t always have the inner confidence you have now, I can’t think of a time in the years that I’ve known you when you were socially awkward- maybe you’re just not being quite so hard on yourself as you used to be 🙂

congrats on getting through the radio show em, and it makes me so happy to hear it went fantastically! would love to hear it, is it online? good luck again next week! you should be so proud, did you ever imagine you’d be on the radio?

and sorry to hear about germany. you’re awesome for relating sports to real life though, and you’re right its for sure a lesson we should all take note of. football in the face was priceless too lol

Lol… I loved that last line. Well, I’m not a soccer fan (gotta be honest). The only time I watch these games IS during the World Cup. I don’t have any favorites, so of course I can easily pick a side and cheer to my little hearts content. Still with all of that, I feel so much for the loosing side. Most of my respect goes to the fans though, because the emotional roller coasters all of you must endure is beyond anything I’ve ever seen.

I agree with you that much of the lessons learned on that field can be applied to our everyday life’s. Sometimes, all we need to succeed is to have all of the odds stacked against us.

How inspiring!
I actually missed the game, but got so much of it from those around me.
My Mum says she’s going back to bed until the next World Cup. I have another family member who pledged to bang his head against the wall until he forgets… my girlfriend’s Mum decided to spend the day drunk… and I told my German friend that I’d have to avoid him for a few days just to deal with the pain.
So refreshing to know that we’re not all bad losers! 🙂
I love your analogy! It truly speaks to where I am in my life right now.
Rock on Emily!

Congrats on hosting the radio show! Thats fantastic! I’d love to hear it if you have a copy? You’re right about the game too. England were too comfortable and didn’t take advantage of the opportunities they were given. Sometimes you only get a small window to shine in or run away from. Germany gave it their all. Just like you’ve been doing lady. I love your outlook on life!

Thank you so much, and for stopping by my blog! Your words mean such a lot 🙂 I’ll try and track down a copy of the radio show – I know you used to be able to listen online but you don’t seem to be able to any more. I’ll let you know 🙂

I’m so excited that the radio show went so well! That sounds like so much fun! How awesome! I wish I could listen to it, lol. And I love the morals in this…the parallels that you’ve drawn to connect soccer (errrrrrr I mean football lol) lessons to real life lessons. Isn’t it amazing how when the Universe is trying to teach us something, it really hammers it in from all sides, even from the most unexpected places? I love it! ❤

Wow, that radio hosting sounds like so much fun! I am so glad you got to do it (and will do it again!) 🙂

Thank you for this very kind recap of the GER:ENG game… I know you would have had every right to rant and rave about the fact that your team lost, but you turned it into something really good.
I loved the analogy (and I loved that Germany won, surprise, surprise! :))

Congrats on the radio show ❤ That sounds scary, but if anyone can do it you can!

Referees have been awful this year 😦 Not only denying England a goal, but allowing Argentina a clear offside goal.

Oh my, the England game was full of emotions. Germany played A-Game football and deserved to win, England just wasn't up to it this year. Though I have a feeling Germany may get destroyed by the fiery Argentineans. I felt awful for Lampard who was taking consistent shots on goal and for nothing. Always next year! I'm now backing Spain to win.

Love the football analogy though. Something I think Germany definitely had was a fast counterattack, they scored off one of our free kicks by being ready to change the situation around. Live and learn 😀

Way to go on seeing the positives in what could easily have been a post about England being the victim. Love how you refuse to see things thatway and focus on positivity and the good in the other team. Great job on the radio too!

I couldn’t agree more with this. Good stuff and great analysis. The Germans really did deserve to win that game more than England, no matter which way you slice it. They made the back four look like crumbling Swiss cheese with their passing. And their finishing was world class.

The game was painful – but I still would’ve liked to see what the difference would have been if the goal had been correctly given and they had been 2-all at half time. Totally different morale, could have been a different ending too.

I was hosting ’cause a couple of friends of mine have the show every Saturday, and they just had a beautiful little baby so they were off air for a couple of weeks – they asked me to stand in for them for a bit! 🙂

It was terrifying but when you’re passionate about the music I think it really helps a LOT. If I’d had to play something I didn’t know or Justin Bieber I would’ve been a wreck lol

Loved the Germany/England game…granted I was rooting for Germany but I would have liked to have seen that goal count…could have been a very different game if it had (and it should have!!). I also loved your analysis of it and how you compared it to life. Couldn’t be more true and sometimes, I need to remind myself of just that.

Ah! One) I love this post so much, perhaps because I am the biggest Germany fan in the world!?! Two) You tried out hot yoga? How was it??? Three) You are so great, I love the line about not worrying about the retaliation and just going out there and being brilliant. You are 100 percent right on that one.. I might steal that line for my inspiration journal.

I knew you’d like this one – I was debating titling it “For Hannah”. but then Sweet gave me that nugget of gold as the clock hit about 12:15 last night and I went ahead and posted! 🙂 I keep an inspiration journal too! And you can rest assured your words are most definitely in it!! xoxo

First of all, I hope to one day be as gracious about my team losing as you are. I’m not all that into the World Cup, but I know I wasn’t too nice about last year’s Superbowl.

Also? I love everything about this post. My favorite line: “But I think we all have a choice – let other people define you as something negative, or take a leaf from Germany’s book, choose to actively try and defy expectations, and prove that you can be something.” I think this is SO TRUE and it’s funny because it’s kind of what I wrote my blog post about today!

I’m so proud of you about the radio show! That sounds like such a cool opportunity, especially doing it with Sweet!

Congrats on the radio show! You keep facing your fears left and right, and as always, it’s very inspiring! I also love how you paralleled your social anxiety with the world cup games; I never thought of it that way, but it’s so true!

Aww, thank you! And hot yoga was WONDERFUL. They had live music, this amazing singer doing acoustic guitar covers of Beatles and Foo Fighters songs, and the room was full of candles – very cool indeed. I definitely needed the towel though, I was dripping!!

Ugh, don’t get me started on that game. In brief: If that goal was rightfully allowed, we wouldn’t have had our defence pushing forward to that extent, and while our defending was SHOCKING throughout, it would have been a different game. Yes, on balance, Germany deserved to qualify, but to get knocked out in THAT game under THOSE circumstances… Double GRR, EJ. Double Grr.

Rant over. Back to you 😀 Why were you radio-show hosting? Either way, I’m glad you did it! Because you both enjoyed it and bitch-slapped a few confidence demons in the process. I call that a good experience all round!

p.s. I will be eagerly awaiting your Dr Who breakdown.
p.p.s. Please put up a picture of Amy Pond for me? :p

Double Grrr indeed! Ah well, we’ve got to be gracious losers. Or we could just blame it on Wayne Rooney’s psychiatrist lol

Radio! My friends have a show every week and they just had a baby, so they asked me to step in – definitely a good experience, and I think now it’ll be MORE enjoyable next weekend since I know what to expect. 🙂

We’ll debrief on FB! I fear I’d lose all my readers if I went on a full out nerdfest. Plus I wouldn’t want to spoil it for the people who aren’t at the end yet! But LOTS. TO. SAY.

Here’s your pic. I tried looking for a decent pic but this is the only one that kept coming up lol. See why I don’t like her that much!! *Shakes old lady cane* 🙂

It’s amazing!! I saw Rent for the first time in 2004 and it was incredible. I still remember when the movie came out, we went to see it in the cinema and one of my friends dressed up as Mark in a scarf and glasses and people kept asking for his picture lol!!

How inspiring!I actually missed the game, but got so much of it from those around me.My Mum says she’s going back to bed until the next World Cup. I have another family member who pledged to bang his head against the wall until he forgets… my girlfriend’s Mum decided to spend the day drunk… and I told my German friend that I’d have to avoid him for a few days just to deal with the pain.So refreshing to know that we’re not all bad losers! I love your analogy! It truly speaks to where I am in my life right now.Rock on Emily!
+1

Ah, my household was not a happy one during that game!! Martin stormed out of the room a few times, hehe!!

Although, I have one query – when you say that Germany “were facing a team who’d just surprised the world and beat the pool frontrunners”, who are you talking about? Slovenia, being England’s last game? I would argue that England were the pool frontrunners as the USA, Algeria, and Slovenia should not have, any of them, been a difficult task to beat for England (well, if they had played anywhere near their potential, or at least given Rooney more support up front), but don’t get me started on that, haha! Sure, Germany played better football on the day, I think poor England will get slaughtered by their press now!!

Although, I gotta say, I am pleased that Germany are facing Argentina now. They ought to take care of them, come on Messi! (I still haven’t forgiven Germany for thrashing Australia so badly, and now the other nationality dear to my heart in England, so forgive me for being petty here, haha!)

Haha no worries! The Ger-Arg game should be CRAZY and I suppose I will be rooting for Argentina… haha even though both are amazingly good teams. I have to be SOMEWHAT patriotic and support anyone who beat England, even if they did it brilliantly 🙂

Oh my. Germany have now beat the three teams I was going for in any respect this World Cup. Australia, England and now Argentina!! All three did not play to their full potential though (especially England and Argentina, because come on, Australia were never going to do well, ha) but I just pray that Spain can now beat Germany and win the whole thing!! (I hope I am not jinxing them because we’ve seen what happens to teams I support :-S)

By the way, I was going to ask on the other post but nw that I’m here might as well ask now, who is your favourite Dr Who actor? It has taken me a while to get used to the new guy, but after tonight I finally feel ready to accept him haha, I think it’s been long enough for me to adjust!

I thought the whole England goal was comedy, not only the smacking in the face with the ball, but the way that Neuer leapt to save it. Although, he was also a cheeky sod – he knew himself that the ball had crossed the line before it bounced out. If he had done a punch of disappointment or shouted at his defenders for letting it go in (instead of acting like he saved it) the linesman would’ve known it’d gone in! Grrr! But, still, they trampled us! Don’t know if I want them to win now or whether I should root for Spain…

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I'm Emily, a 30-something British expat currently living smack dab in the middle of Canada. I'm a giant sci-fi geek, word nerd and music fiend with a fierce passion for writing, photography, great literature, psychology, adventures, astronomy, magic, fun, and seeing the world. If you're a fan of great music, science fiction, travel, studying human behaviour, nerding out, the '80s, proper grammar, and the occasional kitten, you've come to the right place.